Ethiopian Airlines 737 Crashes Enroute To Kenya

There were 8 crew members and 149 passengers on board. Sadly, there is no survivors. The airline has stated that over 39 nationalities were onboard.

Ethiopian 737-800. Image: Boeing

What are the details?

Flight ET302 was six minutes outbound from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia when the international airport lost contact with the plane.

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Source: Flight Radar

At this time it is unknown what caused the crash, however, rescue crews are on the scene. Ground witness accounts reported there was a blast and intense fire as the aircraft hit the ground.

The office of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia has released a statement giving condolences to the families:

The Office of the PM, on behalf of the Government and people of Ethiopia, would like to express it’s deepest condolences to the families of those that have lost their loved ones on Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 on regular scheduled flight to Nairobi, Kenya this morning.

Ethiopian Airlines has released a short statement, saying: “Ethiopian Airlines staff will be sent to the accident scene and will do everything possible to assist the emergency services, we have no confirmed information about survivors or any possible casualties”.

The aircraft involved in the incident is the same model as the Boeing 737 Max 8 that was involved in the Lion Air disaster earlier this year. It is not known if the same technical issue has been involved in this new crash. Boeing has said it’s closely monitoring the situation.

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Lion Air 737 MAX 8. Source: Boeing

The plane involved in this incident in Africa, ET-AVJ, was only six months old according to airfleets.net

The full Ethiopian Airlines statement can be read below:

Update: 1313UTC

According to reports, it is believed that all 157 people onboard the aircraft lost their lives. Among those on board were seven British nationals, eight Americans, and eighteen Canadian citizens. According to the Daily Mail, the full list of nationalities onboard includes:

32 Kenyans

18 Canadians

9 Ethiopians

8 Chinese

8 Americans

7 Brits

7 French

6 Egyptians

5 Dutch

4 Passengers travelling on UN passports

4 Indians

3 Russians

2 Morrocans

2 Isrelies

1 Belgian

1 Ugandan

1 Yemeni

1 Sudanese

1 from Togo

1 Mozambican

1 Norwegian

It is believed that an intense fire was burning at the crash site according to BBC eyewitness reports.

Journalist - Working in news media for over a decade with outlets including 9News and the Discovery Channel, Nick is an airline marketing specialist with a Masters level education. Working closely with AirAsia, Virgin Australia, Turkish Airlines and others, Nick provides unique insight and analysis on a variety of aviation topics. Based in Sydney, Australia.